by Sean Michael
He needed to talk to Gordon, but he wasn’t going to do it in front of Josie.
“You mad at Josie?”
“No, of course not, honey. You didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing at all.” He kissed her cheek. “You’re a good girl.”
She nodded. “I am a good girl.”
“You are, honey. Very good. Come on, let’s do some coloring.”
“Draw me a piggy?”
“A piggy? Why a piggy?” He grabbed a piece of paper and a pink crayon.
“They have funny tails.”
“They do, don’t they? Why do you think they have such funny tails?”
Josie tilted her head, bit her bottom lip. “’Cause… they’re piggies?”
Brock laughed. “Yes, honey, I bet that’s right.”
That earned him a squeal and a smile, so he knew that was the best answer. He drew with her for a while, only checking his watch every two minutes or so. If Gordon didn’t call back within fifteen minutes, he was calling the man again.
The phone didn’t ring, but someone knocked on the front door.
“You stay here, honey.” He got up and went to look out through the peephole. Gordon was standing there, looking grim. Fuck a duck. He opened the door, feeling about like Gordon looked. Especially given the extra information he now had.
“Boss, where’s the little girl?”
“Living room.” He let Gordon in and closed and locked the door behind him.
“There’s two on the cleaning crew who are new. Brand-new. And neither of them have background checks.”
“Fuck. She said she saw a scary face at the window. It had to have been him. And there’s something else. She said they told her Eric was going to hell, she said that her grammy told the bad boys that, that they were waiting for her grandmother to come get her.” He took a breath and let that sink in now that he’d said it out loud. “Eric’s fucking mother set this up, Gordon.”
“Why? Why would she try to get her granddaughter killed, Boss?”
“I don’t know. Why would she try to take her son to court to take the girl away from him? Josie wouldn’t make shit like that up.”
Gordon held one hand up. “Okay. Okay, let’s stop and think, okay?”
“It makes sense, Gordon. Remember how we couldn’t figure out why Eric and Josie?”
“Yeah. I remember. But what’s her deal? What’s her problem?”
“Eric said she was pissed off that he adopted, pissed off that he adopted from China. Hell, she’s telling everyone he’s going to go to hell. I imagine she’s pissed off he’s gay to start with.”
“Okay. You need to get Eric. I’ll grab Max. We need to talk.”
“What about Josie? We can’t just leave her in the living room by herself.” In fact, he’d left her too long already. He headed for the couch where he’d left her.
She was curled up on his leather sofa, crayon clutched in her hand, sound asleep. Something in his heart went thud. Christ, she was precious. “Let me get her to bed and get Eric out here. I’ll be two ticks.”
“Draw the curtains.” At his look, Gordon shrugged. “No one can get through and no one’s coming up. It’s not reasonable. I just want them closed. For her.”
Brock nodded. No nasty men looking at her through the windows. He could agree with that.
He picked her up, and she didn’t wake up; she just curled into him as happy as you please.
It didn’t take long to put her into her little bed and draw the curtains closed. Then he went to his bedroom for Eric. Eric was curled around his pillow, sound asleep and snoring. Christ. He hated to wake his lover, but Eric needed to be a part of this. He was the only one who really knew what his mother was capable of.
Brock sat on the bed and rubbed Eric’s arm, and then bent and placed a kiss on his lover’s lips midsnore.
Eric blinked awake. “Mmm. Brock. Hey.”
“Hey, baby. Gordon and Max are here. There’s new information and we need your input.” He kept his hands on Eric, touching almost without thinking about it.
“New information? Have they found him?”
“Yes and no, but we have an idea of maybe why he targeted you. Come on. We’ll talk to Gordon and Max and only have to say it once.” He tugged on Eric gently.
“Okay.” Eric sat up carefully, nodded.
“How are you feeling?” He nodded toward Eric’s side.
“Tender, but I’ll live. Jo having her nap?”
“Yes.” He took Eric’s hand and led him into the living room. Max had already joined Gordon.
Eric squeezed his hand, lips set. “What’s up, guys?”
“First of all, Josie saw a ‘scary man’ at the window. I didn’t see it, but I did see a handprint on the other side of the window and I called Gordon.”
“A scary man? Where is she?”
“She’s fine, Eric. She’s sleeping in her room and the curtains are drawn. Gordon, tell him what you found out about the cleaners.” Because he didn’t want to have to tell Eric about his mother.
“There are two recent hires without background checks. We’re checking it out. I have a call in to the police, too. I doubt they’ll come record the handprint, but maybe.”
“Josie told me something else. Eric, she said the bad boys said you were going to hell.”
“Isn’t that nice. Maybe they ought to get together with my mom.”
“That’s the thing, baby. According to Josie, it was your mom who told them that. And they were waiting for her to come and get Josie.” He watched Eric for a reaction. Would Eric think it was truth or a lie?
“My mom? How would she know them?”
“I don’t know. You think they twisted it up to scare Josie? Make her think her grandmother was out to get her?”
“I don’t know. I don’t….” Eric stood up, suddenly, and left the room.
Gordon arched an eyebrow. “That was unexpected.”
Brock blinked for a moment, surprised by Eric’s reaction and unsure exactly what to make of it. “I’ll go get him.” He headed after Eric, frowning.
Eric was on his little laptop, tapping furiously.
“What are you doing, baby?”
“Looking for something.”
“What?” His hands dropped to Eric’s shoulders and he rubbed.
“There was an email… about six months ago. Mother came to the day care, tried to take Jo, but the owner wouldn’t let her.”
“Shit. Come on; bring the laptop back to the living room. Gordon and Max need to hear this.” He got Eric up and moving, carrying the laptop.
“I just need to….” Eric was trying to walk and type at the same time.
“Hey, guys. Eric says his mother showed up at the day care a while ago, trying to pick up Josie, but the owner wouldn’t release Josie to her.”
Gordon’s eyes narrowed. “The girl. The girl worked at the day care.”
“Yeah, that’s right. You think she and Eric’s mother set this up because the courts wouldn’t give her what she wanted?” Shit, the woman had to really hate Eric to pull a stunt like this.
“I don’t think the girl’s that smart.” Max rumbled a little. “Let me make some calls.”
Brock nodded and growled. It didn’t seem to matter what they did or found out, it always resulted in waiting.
“Who are you calling?” Eric looked a little green around the edges.
Brock tugged him close and held on.
“I need to call my old partner, man. We need to get the cops in on this.”
Brock nodded. “It’s getting hairy.”
“This is insane. This is utterly fucking insane.” Eric’s heart was beating faster now, pulse visible in his throat.
“It is. You have to tell us now, though, Eric. Do you think it’s possible your mother was involved with the kidnapping? Would she go that far?”
“I, I don’t know, but I’m going to fucking find out.” Then Eric was up, moving.
“Whoa, slow down a minute, baby.
Where do you think you’re going?”
“Out. You watch our daughter.”
“You can’t go out! Guys, a little backup here?” What was Eric thinking? It wasn’t safe.
Gordon headed for the front door; Max grabbed the phone.
“I’m going to talk to that bitch. Get out of my way.”
Brock grabbed hold of Eric and wrapped him in a hug. “Let the guys take care of this, Eric. It’s not safe for you out there.”
“No. No, I’ve had enough. I’m not going to just…. They took my baby!”
“And rushing out there and getting yourself shot again isn’t going to change that! You’ve already reinjured yourself once today. I won’t let you do anything permanent.”
“I’m going to talk to her.” Eric was sweating, panting, pale.
“No. I don’t want you warning her. Let the cops handle this.” The last thing he wanted was Eric inadvertently warning his mother that they were on to her, and her disappearing as a result.
Gordon was watching, frowning. “He’s really pale, Boss.”
“Eric?” Brock tore open Eric’s shirt, eyes going to the spot that had been bruised earlier.
The bruise was bigger. Much bigger. And black.
“Shit. I’m taking you to the hospital. Gordon—someone needs to stay with Josie.”
“No. No.” Eric shook his head, but Max was already calling for the car, Gordon heading for Josie’s room.
“You did something nasty to yourself, baby, when you lifted that bed.”
“I didn’t….” Eric jerked away from him and gagged, a line of blood appearing from the corner of his mouth.
“Shit! Max, we’re going now.” He half lifted Eric into his arms and headed for the door. Gordon had Josie; she’d be okay.
When the door opened, Jeff was standing there, the barrel of a gun to his head, a kid Brock had seen before standing there, snarling. Christ. Fuck. Gordon had Josie; she was safe. There was no way for him to try to close the door, so he backed up, right into Max.
“I’m not letting you in there to hurt that little girl, you fuck. I’ve paged security. They’re coming up.” Jeff sounded brave, pissed.
Max’s arm came up, big, black pistol in hand, right beside them. “Listen, kid. This isn’t going to end well.”
Brock turned partway, so if the kid shot at them the bullet would hit him and not Eric. “Give yourself up. I bet the cops’ll give you a deal if you rat on the old lady.”
“He’s hurting that little girl! She told us all about it, about the horrible things he’s doing. I’m trying to save her life!”
Eric’s knees buckled. “What? No….”
“I don’t think so, kid. She’s a lying bitch.”
“Put down the gun, Tim.” Max just growled out the words.
Jeff never tensed. “Put it down, Tim. We all want to walk away from this.”
“Come on, kid. Is this really worth your life? You pull that trigger and you’re a dead man.”
Brock wanted to snarl and lash out, but he didn’t. He kept it calm for his baby, for that little girl who was counting on him. He let the men whose job it was try to talk Tim down.
“I won’t let you hurt her, man.” Tim met Eric’s eyes. “I won’t let anyone hurt a kid like that.”
Eric stepped forward, swaying. “I’d never hurt her. She’s my daughter.”
“That doesn’t mean anything!”
“It does to me.”
Brock growled. “The only one hurting that little girl is you and the old lady.”
Eric took another step. “I never hurt you, Tim. You know that.”
Tim nodded.
Brock stayed quiet, letting Eric talk. He just hoped Eric didn’t keel over before they got this dealt with.
“I don’t know who hurt you, Tim, but we’ll help you. I’ll help you make them pay. You have to put the gun down, though. Jeff hasn’t hurt anyone.”
Brock thought maybe Eric was getting through to the kid. He held his breath.
“She said she wanted to keep the kid safe.”
Eric nodded. “I hear you, but she’s wrong. Josie’s safe. Here. With her family.”
Brock could see Max moving out of the corner of his eye, signaling to Jeff with his hands.
Jeff’s eyes went down, then up, agreeing. Something was about to happen. Brock needed to keep his partner, his Eric, safe when it did. He slid his hand around Eric’s arm, ready to yank his lover back and down. Christ on a crutch, Eric was starting to sway. Whatever was going on was going to have to happen soon.
Tim opened his mouth, and at the same time Jeff jerked down and back, the gun beside him went off, and from her room, Josie screamed.
Brock grabbed Eric close, bending them both low and left.
“Josie.” Eric moaned. “Oh God. Brock. Jo.”
He shoved Eric behind the door. “Stay here, out of sight.”
He didn’t check to see who had who, whether anyone else was hurt, he simply turned and ran to Josie’s bedroom.
“Daddy! Daddy Bee! Daddy Bee!” She was fighting Gordon like a mad thing. “No! No! No taking me away! Daddy!”
He grabbed her, going down to the ground with her beneath him, his only thought to make sure she was safe.
“Daddy Bee!” She grabbed hold of him, sobbing. “Daddy Bee, big noise.”
“I know, honey, but it’s okay. You’re okay. It’s all going to be just fine.”
“Where’s Daddy?”
“He’s in the front room, honey. We need to.” He stopped. What the fuck did he tell her? That Daddy was trapped up front with the bad man—he hoped to hell that wasn’t true, that Max and Jeff had things under control. Or did he tell her that Eric needed the hospital—that would go over just great.
“We need to stay here for a bit, honey.”
She nodded, holding on tight. “Scared me.”
“I know, honey. It scared me, too.” It still scared him. He hated not knowing how Eric was, hated not being in there; he was Eric’s fucking hero and here he was hiding in the back room. Only, he knew, Eric wanted him to save Josie first. No matter what.
“Boss, it’s clear. There’s an ambulance coming for Eric. I… It’s messy out there; you two stay put for a few, hmm?”
Oh, Gordon. Thank God. “Is Eric okay?”
“He’s hurting. The kid… he got hit, but it’s not fatal.”
He bit back his “too bad.” Josie didn’t need to hear that. “We’ll read or something for a bit, but Gordon—I want to be at the hospital with Eric.”
“I know. Let me get things passable and I’ll take you. Max is working the scene.”
He nodded and gave Josie a smile. “Pick a story, honey. We’ll read.”
She shook her head, refusing to let go of him.
“You could tell me a story, then.”
“Okay.” She sniffled. “’Bout you an’ me an’ Daddy?”
“Yeah, yeah. That would be great. Tell me a story about you and me and Daddy.” He cuddled her close.
“Me an’ my daddy had a friend. He was our Bee. We loved him and waited for him.”
“Did you love Bee even before you met him?”
She nodded. “My daddy says Bee is my guard-angel. That Bee is Josie’s friend.”
He hugged her tight. “That’s true. Your daddy was right.” God, she was a sweetheart.
Josie nodded. “Daddy and me, we loved our Bee so good. We prayed. Please God, keep Bee and Daddy and Jo and Goldie the Fishie happy and safe.” She looked at him, very seriously. “Goldie the Fishie went to heaven.”
“Did she?”
She nodded. “I cried.”
“Did you bury her?”
“No. Daddy flushed her down the potty.” She leaned closer, whispering. “I was scared, Bee, that she would swim up and bite my bottom.”
Brock bit his lip and tried very, very hard not to laugh. “It’s a good thing you’re here now, then.”
“Oh, Daddy said she couldn’t. He taked me
to where they make houses and they showed me how a potty works.”
“Oh, cool. Your daddy’s a very smart man.”
She nodded. “He’s a teacher.”
“Yeah. A good teacher. What are you going to be when you’re grown up?” Come on, he thought. Let us get out there and see Eric.
“A cookie.”
“No, not what do you want to have, but what do you want to be?”
“I….” She frowned. “A momma!”
“Yeah? I bet you’d be a good momma. Look what good care you take of your dolly!”
Josie nodded, and was crawling over to grab her baby doll when Gordon stuck his head in. “You ready, Boss?”
“More than.” He stood up and held his hand out for Josie. “Come on, honey. We get to go see Daddy now.”
“Okay.” Josie nodded, reached for him. He grabbed her bag, chuckling at himself for the immediate ease of the motion.
“How’s Eric?” he asked Gordon under his breath.
“The ambulance is taking him. His vitals are strong.”
“Thank God. Are you and Max following us?” He had a car seat in his car now. A car seat.
“Max is in the ambulance. I’m driving you.”
“You have a car seat for Josie?”
“No, Boss. You’re giving me the keys to that kick-ass car.”
“Bad word! Bad word!” Josie squealed.
Brock had to bite his lip to keep from laughing again. “Naughty, naughty, Gordon.”
One of Gordon’s eyebrows went up. “Right. Sorry, Josie.”
“I could drive,” he told Gordon as they made their way to the elevator. “You should be hands-free in case you need to do any protecting.”
“I won’t. The kid’s in custody.”
“For real, man? This is over?”
“The danger is. The….” Gordon looked over at Josie. “You two have some serious familial issues—civil, if they can’t prove criminal ones.”
He nodded. “I know, man. Luckily I have the money to hire the best bad-word lawyers out there.” He was going to make sure that if Eric’s mother even thought about coming anywhere near Josie or Eric, she’d wind up in jail.
Gordon nodded. “I feel bad for your man, Boss. That’s a hell of a thing.”
“Bad word!”
“Sorry.”
“I’m gonna have to refurbish my entire vocabulary. So are you if you’re going to stay on as my security.” He grinned. Yeah, it was a shitty thing that Eric had to go through with his mother, but Brock couldn’t be upset with how things had turned out.